Seiko Club Singapore Museum

Reliability of Seiko Solar?

Valles
Reliability of Seiko Solar?
Hi folks,



Am eyeing an Seiko Solar chrono but am skeptical about the reliability or rather maturity of Seiko's Solar technology hence hope to seek some advice on it.



Previously I owned an Seiko Kinetic, one of it's pioneer model and at that time the warranty is 3 yrs by TS.... and the capacitor gum gum died on 3 yrs 1 week. However TS was kind enough to replace the dead capacitor FOC on goodwill and the trustworthy Seiko Kinetic served me for another 2 years plus until it met a fatal accident during my ICT and was pronounced dead on spot :mrgreen:



Hence I'm wondering whether will the Solar models also need capacitor replacement in say 3 yrs time frame? What is the norm of warranty given by TS nowadays for Solar models?



Thanks.
Ed.YEO
Re: Reliability of Seiko Solar?
Your previous Kinetic, as you have mentioned was a PIONEER batch product, I guess should have warrantied by TS for a certain period of time, say, maybe 3yrs? During that time, can we assume that the rechargeable capacitor is not as advance as now?

Now, the Solar watches are mostly warrantied for a single year. So... perhaps it's safe to say that the latest generation of the capacitors are better?

This is what comes into my mind, like our mobilephone battery or home use rechargeable battery, the in-built capacitor are subjected to wear and tear. And such wear and tear is determine on how often we charge the capacitors. So, i won't think that the latest capacitors will life end so fast...
Valles
Re: Reliability of Seiko Solar?

"Ed.YEO"

Your previous Kinetic, as you have mentioned was a PIONEER batch product, I guess should have warrantied by TS for a certain period of time, say, maybe 3yrs? During that time, can we assume that the rechargeable capacitor is not as advance as now?

Now, the Solar watches are mostly warrantied for a single year. So... perhaps it's safe to say that the latest generation of the capacitors are better?

This is what comes into my mind, like our mobilephone battery or home use rechargeable battery, the in-built capacitor are subjected to wear and tear. And such wear and tear is determine on how often we charge the capacitors. So, i won't think that the latest capacitors will life end so fast...


I agree that technology advance with time and theoretically the capacitor in today context ought to be more advance and robust than that of yesteryears. I remember vaguely when I bought that pioneer Seiko Kinetic, Citizen was also concurrently launching its Solar powered series. I didn't keep track of when Seiko started launching Solar series hence am wondering have Seiko Solar reached a stage of maturity? Cos from my limited knowledge and memory, Citizen was the first to launch Solar and its been years since their first launch. Whereas for Seiko, I have no idea.
davtse
Re: Reliability of Seiko Solar?

"Valles"

[quote="Ed.YEO"]Your previous Kinetic, as you have mentioned was a PIONEER batch product, I guess should have warrantied by TS for a certain period of time, say, maybe 3yrs? During that time, can we assume that the rechargeable capacitor is not as advance as now?

Now, the Solar watches are mostly warrantied for a single year. So... perhaps it's safe to say that the latest generation of the capacitors are better?

This is what comes into my mind, like our mobilephone battery or home use rechargeable battery, the in-built capacitor are subjected to wear and tear. And such wear and tear is determine on how often we charge the capacitors. So, i won't think that the latest capacitors will life end so fast...


I agree that technology advance with time and theoretically the capacitor in today context ought to be more advance and robust than that of yesteryears. I remember vaguely when I bought that pioneer Seiko Kinetic, Citizen was also concurrently launching its Solar powered series. I didn't keep track of when Seiko started launching Solar series hence am wondering have Seiko Solar reached a stage of maturity? Cos from my limited knowledge and memory, Citizen was the first to launch Solar and its been years since their first launch. Whereas for Seiko, I have no idea.[/quote]

i believe seiko is using pulsar solar technology, which has been around for quite awhile as well... as for reliability, i dont think anyone can say for sure since the seiko solars only came out maybe the year before or last year.